POLL: Which Front-End is your favorite

[MitsuriZX]

GameEx,because it's easy to configure and has a lot of support behind it.

...But seriously,what's all this hype about Hyperspin? Is it really THAT good?

[itsonlygeorge]

I am going to go with hyperspin as well, even though it takes a bit more horsepower to run all its extra features. 

[spanner]

Well I love 3D Arcade I make arcades and cabinet models for it too, at the moment I making a remake of Luna City Arcade,you must know what that was.. ??

 

I have made a installed version of 3D Arcade too called 3D Arcade 10th Anniversary its here if you want to look.. 3darcade10th.juniorwebdevsnet.co.uk You can't beat the feeling it gives you when in the arcades...

 

 

Spanner..

 

"In the begining of the end of tresteral man as he's know to be.."

[Imgema]

From the selection i prefer Hyperspin. I saw some videos of a MALA setup and it seemed a bit slow and lagging. It doesn't feel as "snappy" as HS. But my favorite is QuickPlay. Its THE fastest frontend i ever used (even if you add, like, 10.000 roms it will load them in less than a second) and it works great with GoodSets because of its MAME like structure, it displays the zip/7z file as a parent rom and its contents are displayed through a drop down menu, just like MAME looks with the parent/clone setup.

[Circo]

From the selection i prefer Hyperspin. I saw some videos of a MALA setup and it seemed a bit slow and lagging. It doesn't feel as "snappy" as HS. But my favorite is QuickPlay. Its THE fastest frontend i ever used (even if you add, like, 10.000 roms it will load them in less than a second) and it works great with GoodSets because of its MAME like structure, it displays the zip/7z file as a parent rom and its contents are displayed through a drop down menu, just like MAME looks with the parent/clone setup.

Does it have video support?

[Imgema]

Does it have video support?

 

No but personally, i'm fine with just snapshots. You can also add other things like extra picture tabs (for box art, cart art, etc) and a description under the image just like MAME. Problem is, the frontend isn't very active and i don't think there are any info dats for console games descriptions but they do have some nice packs of goodnamed snapshots, including a 17.000 (!) picture set for Commodore 64.

 

The main point of this frontend is its speed. It loads everything immediately. No loadings, no audits of added roms. Its also "snappy" as hell. There are no such things as lag, unresponsiveness due to large number of roms, etc. I have the full Commodore 64 rom set (the one with 17.000 roms and snaps) and when i click its tab for the first time, the roms load in less than a second and there is no lag while i browse it, even though my PC is pretty old.

 

Here is how my setup looks (my roms are sorted by date of release btw)

 

With its drop down menu, i can load whatever version of the rom i want immediately. I don't need to have separate zips for US/PAL/JP versions, translated roms, hacks, protos, etc. Just one archive per title and i select the rom i want through QuickPlay (thats why GoodSets are the best for this). There is also a neat filter which helps finding any rom you want in a matter of seconds. So, if you are one of those who want to have every single version of a game and collects a huge amount of roms then i believe Quickplay is the best way to handle them because its so fast, lightweight and easy to use.

[miamisurf]

Hyperspin Is the Shiz

the team support and forum is great !!

 

It took me a month to set up Mame and be satisfied with the program. Now 2 years to set up MOST COOL SYSTEMS & Vids.

well worth the time  

[gfzy]

I'm a huge fan of xbmc and advanced launcher. I've heard people complain about setting it up in the past, but if you use scripts to rename files appropriately then it's not a huge issue.

I also think that a lot of people will be shifting over to xbmc soon, given that there's been significant work to integrate libretro (allowing you to emulate a large number of systems from within xbmc).

[newage]

I prefer hyperspin because of the great effects and retro sounds. Using it for the video snips is awesome too. Right now just for the emulators like snes and genesis, but after I build an arcade controller I will add mame.

[raungst]

I can appreciate the love for Hyperspin, but my favorite is definitely MaLa. Easily configurable and easy to make your own themes and make it how you want it.

[bigflo]

I like Hyperspin , i havent tried any of the others but after learning about installing emulators and stuff im pretty happy with it on my bartop.

[Riffman81]

Working on setting up my 2nd arcade cab using HyperSpin. Gotta say, well worth the $25 to get access to the FTP and download all the themes. The interface (Once setup) is simply beautiful. Sounds are great, and all the features you could want in an arcade FE. I've always heard HyperSpin is a pain to setup, but really it wasn't all that bad. I'm not sure if I like the idea of using .xml files... and to me, HyperLaunch just adds to the confusion... modules... edit this, edit that... kind of annoying at times. Would be cool if everything was all in one spot, just my opinion. I still have Maximus Arcade on my 1st cab. It's really a shame MA is no longer in developement. Maximus had the potintial to be right up there with Hyperspin and GameEx. However, it's still probably my favorite FE of all time, just due to the fact that you can have a nice simple and complete setup in no time at all. And, if you know how to make custom themes with the theme editor, you can make MA look pretty much just how you want it to. I believe I read somewhere that the source code for MA is being sold?? I'd love to know what the asking price is. If that's true, I hope another developer picks it up and makes it even better then it already is.

[shaybe]

Hyperspin can't be beat. I remember trying 3-D arcade a while back and could not figure out anything! haha

[antinull]

I like mala because it works with vert orentation

but hyperspin sure is beautiful

[antinull]

somehow that posted twice

[solidor]

Hyperspin looks fantastic but poor performance in my old notebook (Pentium M 715)

[lytesenthedarc]

Wow, am I really the only vote for gamebrowser II?

[tastyratz]

Pretty overewhelming hyperspin it looks. Count my vote for the same

[CampoJnr73]

I voted for MaLa but that's because its the only one I have used - Seeing as Hyperspin has most of the votes, I might give it a try!

[Polemicist]

Combine Hyperspin with Hypersync and EmuMovies download and you have the best looking front end you have ever seen with automatic updating of themes and videos etc. Takes time I setup but isn't rocket science and the forums hold the answer to every question so read and search them first as you look a little silly asking the same question over and over again. Oh and to get Hypersync you need platinum over at Hyperspin and you will then get a discount you can use over here as well.

Enjoy.

[enderfect]

Hyperspin may be changing to Maximus later

[Tomcat94]

I used MALA for my last arcade machine. For me, it was pretty simple, and got the job done. Granted, it's not nearly as robust and flashy as Hyperspin, but it was still a nice frontend. Plus, making themes were as simple as editing a couple .jpg files.

 

I'll admit, I was incredibly frustrated by Hyperspin when I first started. Nothing would work right, I couldn't fix the game themes, it wouldn't load games, all of it. But after taking the day and learning the in-and-outs of how the program worked, I managed to get most of Hyperspin up and running flawlessly.

 

If I had to choose between the two, though, I'd have to say MALA is a good choice for beginning arcade frontends, and Hyperspin would be for those who like impressive visuals.

[arcademan1]

I've only tried Hyperspin but so far it's very impressive.

[Deluge]

I love Hyperspin, but I do not know how to configure it, so do not use it. : S

[arcademan1]

I love Hyperspin, but I do not know how to configure it, so do not use it. : S

Its taken me some experimentation to figure out some of the finer details, but its worth the effort in my opinion.